1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the structure of a guitar bridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring initially to FIG. 12, a known guitar 50 is shown as an electric guitar or a bass guitar, for example. Each guitar string 51 extends between a tuning bolt or peg 53 disposed on an elongate neck 52 and a guitar bridge 60 arranged on a guitar body 54.
In FIGS. 13 and 14, a guitar bridge 60 known in the prior art supports a plurality of saddles 71 each having a string receiver part 72 for a respective guitar string 51 to pass over. The saddles 71 are supported on a main body 61 of the bridge. The body 61 has a cross section in the shape of an L, for instance, as shown in FIG. 14. Saddle 71 is held by the bridge main body 61 to be freely movable forward and back by rotation of an adjusting screw 73. The adjusting screw 73 is inserted into a screw holder 62 of the bridge main body 61.
A lower portion of the saddle 71 is held to the bridge main body 61 in a freely movable manner through two up and down adjusting screws 75 and 76. Screws 75 and 76 are located on opposite lateral ends of the saddle 71 and contact the upper surface of the bridge main body 61.
A coil spring 74 biases against the saddle 71. Its tension is adjusted by a front and back adjustment screw 73. A modified bridge in which the bridge main body is separate and independent for each guitar string (see FIG. 1) is also known in the prior art.
In the prior art guitar bridge 60 (FIGS. 12-14), the string height and string length for each guitar string 51 can be adjusted by suitable rotation of the front and back adjusting screw 73 and of the up and down adjusting screws 75 and 76, respectively.
The prior art bridge, however, is disadvantageous because the position of the string receiving part 72 or the holding position of each guitar string 51 can shift in the width or lateral direction Z of the saddle 71 (see FIGS. 15A and 15B). That shift changes the pitch (distance) P between adjacent guitar strings 51, as compared with the designed in value. Also, performance is affected when the saddle 71 is tilted, such as when the adjusted lengths of adjusting screws 75 and 76 are different as shown in FIG. 15B.
In addition, where a plurality of saddles 71 are arranged adjacent each other on one bridge main body 61, as shown in FIG. 15, the minimum design pitch between the strings is limited to the distance between the string receiving parts 72 of the adjoining saddles 71, or the entire width of the saddle 71 itself.
FIG. 15A shows the adjusting screws 75 and 76 adjusted so that their lengths are even. Where a plurality of saddles 71 are arranged adjacent to each other on one single bridge main body 61, as described above, shifting of the positions of the guitar strings 51 tends to become greater because adjacent saddles 71 tend to contact each other and develop mutual interference, especially when the saddles have been tilted as described above in connection with FIG. 15B.
Referring to FIG. 16, it is known to eliminate problems caused by mutual interference of adjacent saddles by reducing the entire width of each saddle 91. Also, horizontal shift preventing grooves 85 and 86 receive a pair of up and down adjusting screws 95 and 96, at the right and at the left, respectively, on top of the main bridge body 81. This design prevents adjoining saddles 91 from interfering with each other even when the saddles 91 have been tilted, as shown in the guitar bridge in FIG. 16. Although this makes it possible to substantially avoid the mutual interference among the saddles 91 themselves, the shifting of the holding positions of the guitar strings 51 becomes more significant because the saddles 91 are tilted while the up and down adjusting screws 95 and 96 are held in the grooves 85 and 86.